Pamper Baby And Mom With A Gift From LilypadBaby.com!
Written: Mar 11 '05
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When I got the email saying that one of the girls that used to work for me was having a baby I put off buying her a gift. I am a procrastinator through and through and most of the time it really comes back to haunt me. Knowing that both my sister and sister in law are both expecting kids in the near future [yes, we are a family of breeders] I had already been hitting various baby sites that they suggested. Since they both live overseas there are a lot of companies that won’t or can’t ship to them so they pass the sites along to me with gentle [and sometimes not so gentle] hints about what they want. That’s how I first came across Lilypadbaby.com. Silly me, I kept typing in lillypadbaby.com and was a little puzzled at the results. Knowing that my former employee was someone that was a little tricky to buy for I suggested that we all chip in on a gift basket of some type, that way even if she hated some of it there would be a chance that she’d at least like a few of the things and be able to make use of them. Since the initial order I have used the site a few times to order embroidered gifts for my nieces and nephews, all of which looked utterly adorably when they arrived.
Lilypadbaby.com
The site is pretty basic; they sell a limited amount of things like burp clothes, blankets, bibs and some clothing. I opted to get the “Ultimate Baby Gift” basket for $110.00. This might sound like a lot but there were a bunch of us pitching in for it so it came out to about $15.00 per person when it was all said and done. Since she had already picked out a name for the baby [Courtney] I elected to have all the items in the assortment embroidered for an additional charge of sixteen dollars. If you want, you can take a cheaper route; they will embroider one bib, one burp cloth and the blanket for free. In the “Ultimate Baby Gift” basket you get three bibs, three burp clothes, a blanket, a one piece outfit and a Lilypad Baby t-shirt. All of this comes in a large wicker basket that can be used for tons of things after the gifts are taken out of it. The nicest thing is that you get to pick out each and every design; if you want everything to match you can pick out things that work together, if not you can pick from any of the designs that are shown at the site.
I’ll be completely honest, this site isn’t cheap but they aren’t selling cheap things either. After I ordered the gift basket I decided to get a few things for my nieces and nephews for their first birthday. When they arrived I completely understood why these things were in the higher price range … they are soft, well made and impeccably stitched. The site doesn’t really sell a lot of items but they do offer a lot of different designs on the blanket edges, bibs and burp clothes. It’s easy to navigate, there are no pop ups, the pages load fast and you can enlarge most of the color photos to get a better look at the designs. I’m not sure how often I will use the site but so far everything that I have ordered has been delivered in a timely fashion, far exceeded my expectations and was worth spending a little extra cash when I saw the quality of the goods.
One way to get a little more for your money is to check out the sale section of the site. You never know what you are going to come across so hit that portion of the site first so you can see what the deals are. Another way to stay on top of things is to sign up for the free email newsletter that will let you know about new designs, sale items and what’s going on at the site. For those wishing to shop in a certain price range, you can pick out your bottom and top dollar amount and the site will show you what they have in that price range.
Customer Service
Lilypad Baby
P.O. Box 1121
Manhattan Beach, CA 90267
customerservice@lilypadbaby.com
orders@lilypadbaby.com
www.lilypadbaby.com
Payment Options
You can pay for your order using MasterCard, Visa or The Discover Card [sorry, no American Express] or with a PayPal account. I opted to use my trusty MasterCard for the purchases and had no problems with the card being accepted or being billed an amount other than what was shown in my cart at the time of check out. The site does require that you list some personal information about the credit card user but this is for your own protection and to keep fraud to a minimum. I wasn’t billed for things until the order was filled, I am assuming that this is because the items had to be embroidered and took a little longer than if I just ordered off the shelf stuff.
Return Policy
You can make a return of any non embroidered item with fourteen days [two weeks] but you will need to obtain an RMA [return merchandise authorization] number from the site in order to have it processed correctly. Since the site doesn’t disclose their phone number you will have to do all of this by email [customerservice@lilypadbaby.com]. I’ve never had to make a return so I can’t say how long they take to process them but the site does say that they handle most of them in a seven day time frame and you are refunded via your original payment method [instead of some sites that only offer you a store credit]. If you need to contact them by phone, this is the number that I dug up online: 310-939-9190.
Shipping Fees
The site uses the United States Postal Service to ship most things but larger items [like the gift basket I ordered] get shipped via UPS Ground or Federal Express Ground. If you need something shipped fast, you may want to contact them to see if there is a way to get your order expedited. Shipping fees are calculated according to the dollar amount and the most you will ever pay is $9.95 for orders over $100.00. The starting shipping fee is $2.95 for anything under $15.00 but once you see the prices at the site you’ll see why it might be hard to stay under that. The shipping fees aren’t outlandish or inflated and in most cases your items will be delivered in about a week from the time that you order them [embroidered items will take a little longer].
The Bottom Line
This isn’t a site that some people will want to shop it; it has a limited number of things [but a nice assortment of designs] that they sell and it isn’t one of the cheaper sites on the internet. All the things that I ordered were delivered within the timeframe that they stated in the confirmation email, all were packaged nicely and were worth the extra money. If you are shopping for something special for a new mom or a mom to be, this is a nice site to check out. Likewise, if you work in an office and someone is expecting a baby, you can have everyone chip in for a gift basket. Customer service is quick to respond to emails and questions, something that is a rare find in e-commerce these days!
As always, thanks for the read!
~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~
© 2005 Freak369
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Recommended:
Yes
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? Bibs, blankets, gift basket.
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